


Kade-Level Wizardry

by Aierdome



Category: Stand Still Stay Silent
Genre: Fanwork Exchange, Gen, It seems I'm unable to write canon characters' personalities, Lalli preferring to work alone, Reynir trying to help people, kade - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-15
Updated: 2016-06-15
Packaged: 2018-07-15 07:31:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,253
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7213426
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aierdome/pseuds/Aierdome
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Lalli realizes that the group is being followed by a kade - a turned mage - he decides to take it down by himself, but finds unexpected help in Reynir. And rest assured he'll need that help.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Kade-Level Wizardry

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Dverghamrar](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=Dverghamrar).



> Made for Multimedia Fanwork Exchange on SSSS forum. Prompt: "Reynir and Lalli team up during the expedition to combat an evil mage (kade!) (Bonus for a scene involving Reynir or Lalli shielding the other with body and spirit against kade.)"

Those were definitely tracks of a _kade_.

Lalli leaned closer to the wall, running his hand down the swampy-green streak. He smelled it. It stank of rot, and charred meat, and as he turned away from the wall and looked deeper into the field, he could see tracks in the snow disappearing beyond the hill, akin to a person walking and dragging their feet behind them. A _kade_ , doubtlessly. They were infamously sluggish in the sunlight.

It had been a bit over a week since they’d left that city with the pitiful blob-on-stilts trolls, and five nights after they’d passed a giant bridge. Ever since then, Lalli’d had the feeling of being followed, and dreams in which something disturbed fouled the water just before he’d arrive, on top of nightmares of ghosts and trolls. He’d been scouting the area behind their moving house, but until now, the presence of something following them had been more of a hunch than a solid fact. Now, Lalli had a proof.

A _kade_ must’ve been living in the bridge, and, sensing it vibrating as the moving house passed on it, started to stalk them, no doubt hoping to pick up some of the less useful members of their group, should they move too far away from the useful ones. This hadn’t happened for the last five days – Lalli had to give Red Hair Trollpunch a credit for knowing how to manage a group in the wild – and so the _kade_ was growing restless, coming closer and closer and giving Lalli more and more of a headache. Now, at least, it gave the scout a track he could follow, and he had no intention of letting it bother him anymore.

He looked up to the hill. Could it be there, right behind, watching him? The tracks were fresh enough. For a moment, Lalli entertained the thought of running down the hill and gunning the _kade_ down with a rifle before going to sleep and tracking down its wandering spirit before it could run away too far. But… no. If he didn’t want the spirit to break free and roam the dreamlands in search of souls to eat, Lalli had to perform the proper ritual on the body, and for that, he needed preparation.

This, and having the _kade_ lulled into a sense of false security.

He heard shouting behind his back and winced, then turned towards the small town they’d stopped by for the day. Gold Hair Sparkles was waving to him, speaking something in that weird language of his. Lalli could hear his own name among those, and Hair Sparkles wasn’t waving in the “come here” gesture. So, either a question whether he’s found anything, or a call for dinner.

At any rate, Lalli shrugged and walked towards him, forcing himself not to glance towards _kade_ ’s hiding place. He’d come for it at night.

***

“Don’t you have a feeling that something’s watching us?”

Reaching for the next plate to wash, Reynir swallowed, hoping that this wouldn’t awake Mikkel’s inner joker. He didn’t much mind the huge Dane making fun of him – most of the time, at least – but on this occasion, he hoped the Dane would take it seriously.

He glanced up. Night was already falling, and thick cover of clouds shielded the stars and moon. The only sources of light beyond the lightbulb in the tank were small pinpricks of Captain Eide’s and Emil’s flashlights as they and Lalli scoured the buildings for books for the last time. This absence of other sources of light was… good, Reynir supposed. Probably. Nevertheless, as he looked into the dark, he’d swear that there was something on the vast, mildly hilly field. Hiding. Watching.

He tried again.

“Ah, A- I’m pretty sure there’s _something_ out there.”

Mikkel didn’t even glance up from where he was sitting on a folding chair, mending a uniform jacket Captain Eide had torn open on some sharp piece of wood earlier this day.

“Why, of course there's something out there. There must be some fifty-odd trolls hiding in those hills.”, he said, all matter-of-fact. Reynir’s heart skipped a bit as he turned to the man in alarm.

“Oh gods. What… what are we going to do about them?”

“Let them eat us, obviously. Don’t know about you, but I’ve always thought ending up in a troll's stew would be the best way to go.”

Reynir hesitated for a moment before everything clicked. He forced a small chuckle.

“Yes. Of course. Heh. Wouldn’t that be nice.”

Mikkel looked up at him and Reynir winced inwardly, realizing his nervousness wasn’t as well-hidden as he hoped.

“That’s what we’ve got a night scout for, to figure out if there’s something in that field, and if he didn’t say anything, there’s nothing… well, this or Lalli doesn’t feel like telling us.” Mikkel shrugged. “Anyway, you have bigger problems that this.”

“Oh. That’s… bad, yes? What... what is the problem?”

“Me being not happy with how much soap is falling on the ground rather than on the plates. Back to washing.”

“Yes. Yes, right.” Reynir turned back to the sink, feeling his ears burning as he glanced back down, trying to ignore the persistent feeling of something staring at him.

***

Lying in his bed at night, Reynir found himself unable to rest. While everyone else seemed sound asleep – and someone was snoring, to boot – he was stuck in his bunk, trying not to twist and turn for fear of waking someone up. He’d tried to tell himself there was no reason for him to be stressed – Kisa was sleeping peacefully and the door to the tank was soundly locked, after all, but… Any time he started to feel sleepy, it was as if a wave of nausea was washing over him. _Maybe it’s a mage thing_ , he thought, _but what does it mean? Maybe I should as-_

_Crrreak!_

Quiet as the sound was, for Reynir it could just as well be a gun discharge. His eyes snapped open and he took a deeper breath, trying not to move for fear that whatever made the sound would notice him. But there seemed to be nothing in the tank, nothing but darkness and...

And a shadow moving on the floor. Reynir stared, wide-eyed, as it picked itself up and looked around. He closed his eyes as the shadow’s glowing eyes moved over him, then opened them as he heard another quietest creak. The silhouette took a few steps and found itself in the red glow of door alarm lamp.

Reynir held back a breath of relief as he recognized Lalli, not some malicious spirit. But what was the Finn doing this late at night? It must’ve been long past midnight, and he’d been on his feet all day long, so he wasn’t leaving to scout, right?  _Perhaps he’s just going to the toilet_ , Reynir told himself. There was a toilet in the tank – Reynir supposed it was in case of a troll siege or somesuch – and while it was tiny and not very comfortable, with the weather being on the cold side, no-one was leaving the tank at night…

Lalli pressed in the lock combination and quietly opened the door before stepping out and closing it behind him. Reynir blinked, uncertain what to think of it. Alright, that was… what _was_ Lalli doing?

Reynir at first wanted to just trust the scout to do his job and go to sleep, but he still couldn’t calm himself down. He caught himself staring at the door, counting time until Lalli would return. Three minutes… then five. Far too long for anything usual.  _Maybe he’s sensed being watched as well_ , Reynir thought, _maybe he’s going to deal with it_. A terrible thought entered his mind. _What if there really are fifty-odd trolls, like Mikkel said?_ No, he couldn’t believe Mikkel’s words on this one, Mikkel liked joking… But still, what if there _were_ more trolls than Lalli could deal with by himself? What if there were more ghosts?

The more Reynir tried to convince himself that Lalli could, indeed, handle both trollish and supernatural problems himself, the more gruesome possibilities his mind was making up. Finally, he gave up and decided, _Lalli might need help._ With this, he slowly rose in his bed, careful not to let his head hit the bed above, which Tuuri was occupying. He turned and carefully put his boots on, then fixed the mask on his face. Thus prepared, he stepped out of the bed.

The floor creaked. Reynir paused, looking around, but apart from a sleepy murmur from Captain Eide, there was no reaction. He took a slow step after a slow step, pausing every time and wincing at how loud he was. How could Lalli move so quietly?

As he passed Kisu, sleeping on the cot on Tuuri's desk, she opened her eyes, and opened her mouth as if to meow for petting. Reynir quickly put a hand on her head and scratched her behind her ears until she closed her eyes again. He moved further.

After a moment’s consideration, he carefully took Mikkel’s coat off the rack – in the snow, a white coat was certainly less visible than his blue tunic – and then glanced at the desk by the bookcases. There was a crowbar lying there, the one Emil was using to open book crates. Reynir hesitated for a moment, then grabbed it. Better this than nothing, and considering that Captain Eide seemed to be a light sleeper, he preferred not to take his chances with grabbing any weapons – not that he could use them, for that matter.

He snuck out of the tank and closed it, the way Mikkel had showed him a week earlier, then looked around. There was nothing but complete darkness surrounding him, and for a moment he held on to tank’s door with one hand, imagining all the things that could be there, just about to jump at him, just about to bite him and infect him… There were some shapes right next to him, and sounds like _shshshshsh…_ Could this be…? Was it moving…?!

 It took a moment for his eyes to recognize the shape, and then he breathed out a sigh of relief. It was just clothes, hanging on a line strung between the tank and an old road post. Wind was tugging them softly, causing the sound. Reynir found himself reddening again, even though no-one was around to witness his terror at the clothes. He looked around, now seeing more.

The sky was completely clouded, with nary a glimpse of moon or stars. In the distance, the land was only slightly paler than the sky, with snow covering everything. Houses cut into the horizon like bent silhouettes, large and imposing. Reynir swallowed and looked at the ground. Inasmuch as Lalli could move quietly, he couldn’t really walk _on_ snow, and thus there was a string of footsteps leading from the tank and into the field. Reynir took a deep breath, grabbed the crowbar stronger and followed the track.

Soon enough, the tank became just another silhouette among the houses. There was nothing around but the soft rustle of his clothes and creaking of snow under his boots. The sky was like a bowl, everywhere around, and Reynir felt oddly detached, as if he was going to walk this way forever, never reaching anything. The footsteps were still there, though, and he slowly felt nausea rising within him.

He stopped when he realized this. Could it be why he couldn’t fall asleep? Was there something around, making him feel uneasy? Reynir glanced to the sides and suddenly realized how exposed he was, all alone in the field that, frankly, wasn’t all that hilly. He slowly crouched, then laid down on the cold snow and started to crawl forward, still accompanied by nothing but rustle and creaks of his own movement.

There was barely any warning - he heard a creak and then something hit him, turned him on his back, jumped over him and pinned him to the ground with its legs. Reynir didn’t even have time to scream when a hand closed over his mouth and something cold and sharp was pressed to his throat. He froze, hearing nothing but his own heart racing, and finally took in the silhouette over him. It was familiar…

Lalli! Reynir tried to smile in a friendly manner, but he could still feel the knife on his throat. For a moment, they only stared at each other. Lalli’s eyes seemed to glow faintly, cat-like. Reynir wondered if he was doing magic, but frankly, this was the least of his worries right now. The knife was still threatening to slice his throat.

Thankfully, after a moment, Lalli nodded to himself and the sharp blade was withdrawn. Reynir let out a breath he didn’t know he’d been holding and inhaled slowly. Lalli’s free hand went to his lips, ordering silence. Reynir nodded and the hand on his mouth was taken away, too.

Lalli stared at him for a moment, and even though the scout wasn’t exactly expressive, it was pretty clear he wasn’t happy about seeing the Icelander here. Reynir opened his mouth to explain himself, and Lalli’s hand started to move to cover his mouth again. Reynir fell silent.

Lalli looked up, clearly staring at something, then back at Reynir again. He pointed back to where Reynir had come from and gave him a hard look. Reynir nodded quickly, not willing to argue with a man with a knife. Lalli slowly got off him and stalked behind Reynir’s head in an odd half-crouch that was certainly faster than crawling, and much quieter, too. Reynir turned on his stomach to see where the mage was going.

He realized now that they were close to the top of another hill, and Lalli was staring down it, apparently waiting for something. For a moment, Reynir cycled through all he knew. The scout was hunting down something, something that gave Reynir nausea and was very close. He should stay and help Lalli… but Lalli was a professional, he probably knew what to do better than a half-baked mage… Perhaps he really should return. He started to crawl back…

Something flew from behind the hill and hit Lalli with a thump. Lalli flew through the air, something black all over him, and over Reynir’s head, hitting the field behind him. Reynir let out a squeak, turning on his back and scrambling up, trying not to let go of the crowbar. In front of him, Lalli and the creature were wrestling on the ground, but the silhouette, wet, humanoid and stinking awfully, had him pinned down and was slowly gaining advantage – it must’ve been half again Lalli’s size.

Reynir raised the crowbar over his head and charged at the creature, trying for a war cry and ending on an  _eek!_  With a nauseating _pflop_ , the end of the bar sank into the back of the creature, which let out a furious shriek and turned quickly. Reynir was thrown into the air and hit the ground, somehow managing to roll over. When he raised his head, the beast was making its way towards him. It looked human, but wrong somehow, with empty eye sockets glowing in sick yellow colour and long hair hanging in strings over its face. It moved wrong, too, like a puppet held too close to the ground, but was somehow terrifyingly fast and suddenly it was right next to Reynir.

With a scream, he rolled aside as a large, claws-ended hand hit the snow right next to him. The monster raked the ground, then turned its head, swinging oddly, and continued to go after Reynir, too close for him to risk standing up. Reynir squeaked again, crawling back as fast as he could. To no avail, the troll would catch him soon…

Suddenly a gust of wind hit the monster from the side, throwing it on the ground. Reynir quickly got up and glanced around. Lalli was standing there, hands raised, eyes glowing blue. Reynir smiled and started to back off towards the mage as the monster slowly got back on its feet, its head cocking sharply as if struck as it glared with its own glowing eyes at Lalli. It spread its hands to the sides and started to make its own gurgling, foul sounds. Reynir’s heart stopped for a moment. It couldn’t possibly…

The snow all around the monster and Reynir started to bubble, turning dark. Rotten stench rose, somewhere between charred meet and old eggs, intense enough that Reynir almost fell over. He backed off quicker, trying to get out of the gurgling, swamp-like pool, hearing muffled sounds behind him as Lalli was preparing a counter-spell. A moment later a stream of snow, strong as if from a cannon, flew towards the troll. It flicked its wrist and a geyser of water shot up in snow’s path, colliding with it and taking it down. The monster’s jaw dropped, revealing a blackened, lolling tongue and broken teeth in a mockery of smile, and it raised its head, gurgling again.

A giant arm, made of twisted tree roots, pierced the ground from beneath and hit it, then heaved. The earth under Reynir’s feet trembled and he turned back and ran towards Lalli, abandoning safety. Whatever the troll mage was trying to summon, it was trying to pull itself out, and Reynir doubted he was going to like it. Lalli was clearly doing something – he was talking and his hands were up, but there didn’t seem to be any effect…

The snow rose up in a cloud and rolled over them, hiding them completely. The monster shrieked in anger and Reynir froze, looking around, quickly lost in the sudden snowstorm. Something grabbed him by the collar and before he could scream, he was pulled over the top of the hill and to the ground. He saw Lalli again, gritting his teeth as he pointed towards where the shrieks were coming from.

“ _Kade_ ”, he said. “Troll… troll _noita._ ”

“ _Noita_? Uhm, mage? Troll mage?” Good gods, that was one thing he’d hoped he’d never see.

Lalli shrugged. He quickly pointed to himself, then made ‘talking’ gesture with the same hand.

“ _Runo_.” He pointed at Reynir, then hesitated again before raising his head and making gestures of panic. “ _Juokse!_ ”

Reynir had no idea what that meant, but could make a fairly good guess, and the snowstorm was dying already, so he nodded quickly.

“Right. You do magic, I distract.”, he said, but Lalli was already standing up, facing the _kano_. Reynir rolled on his stomach and started to crawl to the side, as to not interrupt the mage from whatever magic he was going to do. He dared look up as last snowflakes fell to the ground.

Two of massive arms, each a mimicry of that of the _kano_ , were already above the  ground, and were pulling up something massive that must’ve been the head. Reynir got to his feet and ran around the _kade_. His crowbar… Yes! It was still lodged in troll’s back, and the troll wasn’t paying Reynir the slightest attention as Lalli was singing some spell. Wind was rushing around Reynir. _I hope to gods this is something more powerful than that snow… Of course it is, it has to be…_

He was behind the troll’s back. The earth was boiling and cracking, and the head was lifting itself out of the ground, covered in streaks of earth and old bones. The _kano_ looked exhausted; it was stooped, its claws curled and trails of something like sweat running down its back. Good… probably. Reynir took a deep breath, trying to psych himself up for what he was about to do.  
“Oh great gods Odin, Freya, Thor, please help me, please help me, please help me…” He took a sharp breath. “Please!”

He charged into the melted pool. The water was unpleasantly warm and the ground was turning into mud, sucking at his feet as he jump-ran his way towards the _kano_ ’s back. He finally got there and took another deep breath.

He swayed on his feet as the putrid stench reached his mouth, somehow going through the mask, making his nose want to sneeze and his eyes filling with tears. For a moment, his vision swam and he could swear he was going to pass out as his knees bent under him. He looked past the troll.

Lalli was standing there, hands raised high, head turned to the sky and voice powerful, like a hero of old, greater than life, almost radiating light. Reynir felt himself brought back to his senses and he could now see the crowbar lodged in troll’s back. He grabbed ahold of it with both hands and pulled with a self-encouraging scream.

It came out along with part of _kade_ ’s flesh and it shrieked again, turning back. Reynir managed to hop a few steps so that the swinging claws didn’t reach it, and grabbed the piece of metal like a sword, staring at the _kade_ as it watched him with angry eyes, its mouth still gurgling whatever spell was bringing the hands from the ground. Reynir screamed – more in panic than bravery – and swung the crowbar at it, which it batted aside easily. He didn’t give up, and continued swinging, the creature gurgling in growing annoyance as it had to defend itself until it finally grabbed the crowbar. The _kade_  paused for a moment in satistafction, then twisted it and Reynir was thrown to the side, hitting the mud-water face-first. Thankful for the mask that stopped the water from getting into his mouth, he quickly rolled aside and got up, seeing that the _kade_ turn back to the monstrosity it was rising, his crowbar nowhere in sight. Reynir looked around, crawling on his back out of the water and to the snow, looking for something more to distract the creature. He went with the first thing he could get his hands on.

Snow.

“Hey!”, he screamed, and threw a snowball at the thing. The _kade_ , hit where the ear should be, turned around and glared at him with its glowing eyes. Reynir made another snowball and threw it, moving a step back and hoping to draw the annoyed _kano_ away from its creation, of which the eyes, glowing with the same sick yellow light, were already over the ground.

After the third snowball, the troll lost its patience and turned to Reynir, stretching out a hand. Something started to burrow its way straight from it towards Reynir and he jumped aside just in time as a geyser of hot water erupted where he’d been standing a second ago. To _kade_ ’s side, one of the root-arms wilted, as if suddenly devoid of strength. Reynir felt himself grinning. If he could distract the troll long enough… He made another snowball and threw it, as they seemed to offend the _kade_.

“Don’t like snowfights?!”, he called and grinned even wider as the snow hit the troll in the eye. It shrieked, shook its head and took the other hand away from the root monster too, raising its arms above its head and gurgling something with sheer malice in the glowing eyes.

A second later, Reynir felt his smile melt as the dirty pool started to move towards him, the water boiling and visibly steaming. _It wants to boil me alive_ … Reynir ran further to the side, then cursed himself as he realized he was getting closer and closer to Lalli. The water was getting closer as well and he could swear the _kano_ was laughing maliciously. He opened his mouth, hoping that the gods would hear his prayers…

Lalli shouted and suddenly the _kade_ was in the centre of a column of pale light. It hissed, shielding its eyes, and the moving water stopped and started to freeze back. The _kade_ itself started to steam, columns of dust rising from it as it tried to cover its face with the long hands, fighting against something trying to press it down.

Reynir looked up. A hole opened in the cloud layer, letting the moonlight, beautiful, pale moonlight through just in the right place to fall on the _kade_. It was burning it, its skin hissing as flakes of it were flying off. Lalli kept on singing the spell, whether to keep the hole in the clouds open or for something different, and the _kade_ seemed powerless to stop it. Reynir felt himself relax, and quietly thanked the gods. Soon enough, the thing would fall-

Fighting against the moonlight pressing it down, the _kade_ cocked its head up and raised its arms, screaming something, foam at its mouth. The root monster suddenly returned to life, and with a last heave, it ripped itself free of the ground.

It was enormous, its head, made in the likeness of the _kade_ , easily large enough to bite half of Reynir or Lalli off in one bite. It didn’t have legs, but its hands were powerful enough, and it started to propel itself towards Lalli, much faster than anything of the size should have any right to be. Reynir looked to the mage, but he seemed unaware of this, his head still turned to the skies, his eyes glowing. Reynir took another breath, and took off towards the Finn.

“Great Thor, _help me_ …!”

Everything seemed to be happening in slow-motion. His moves were sluggish, the monster seemed to have slowed down, and everything was moving… so… slowly. Reynir’s mind, however, worked just fine, inexplicably. He’d swear he could see something being ripped out of the _kade_ , the spirit perhaps. He could see strange energy around Lalli, and trails of yellow smoke rising from the root beast. He could also see that he’d reach Lalli before the root beast could, and watching the swirling power around the Finn, he realized that he couldn’t break the Finn’s concentration, because if Lalli was to start the spell anew, they were both as good as dead. So he changed his direction ever so slightly and the time suddenly returned to normal, and he slid between Lalli and the monster, and threw his hand out, and closed his eyes, and froze, anticipating the wor-

Something _hit_ his mind, a great weight smashing into him, threatening to overwhelm him and sweep him off his feet, sending bright spots over his eyes. For a moment, he was breathless, placeless, feeling nothing but the pain in his eyes and head, unable to think. Then his mind recoiled and pushed back, and Reynir suddenly could breathe again, and his eyes snapped open, chasing away the lights. His hand was burning, but… he was…

Alive.

Somehow.

He looked to the side.

A stave hung in the air, in front of his hand, visible like a shape in the mist, but solid like a shield. The monster was on the other side, opening its maw in a silent roar, scraping at the stave with its long fangs, burning where it touched it. Behind it, the _kano_ was on the ground, and behind Reynir, Lalli kept on singing the spell, his voice rising, the _kano_ shedding itself more and more with every spell. The air was rushing around them all in a whirlwind, rising the snow off the ground and cutting them off. Pressure seemed to be growing in Reynir’s ears as everything grew louder and louder and the beast was more and more frantic and everything was filled with noise and sound and the light was glowing stronger and stronger…

And then, the wind died down, and for a second all was silence.

It burst like a bubble when all that trapped pressure spread out in a _BOOM_.

The _kade_ was thrown into the air, straight up, bent in a shape that shouldn’t be. The beast collapsed to the ground, and sunk into the water. The mud boiled one last time and froze over instantly. The clouds rushed and covered the moon. The stave was blown apart.

And then… Nothing but a faint whisper of the wind.

 

Reynir took a deep breath, staring at where there was a monster just a moment ago, suddenly trembling as all strength left him and he had to put his hands on the ground not to fall over. He took a few shaky breaths, looking down at the snow. He managed to glance up.

“Thank you, god… great Thor… For… for… I mean, thank you, thank you. Thank you very much.”

He took another breath and looked to the side at Lalli. The Finn was swaying on his feet, the glow on his eyes dimming to barely a lustre. He stared at Reynir, then gave him a short nod and grabbed him by the arm, propping him up. He murmured something, looking at still-trembling Reynir, then moved his free hand towards the snow and up.

The snow suddenly rose, melting and washing over Reynir, taking down the dirty water and all the other _kade_ -related stuff. Reynir nodded in thanks, then felt the cold coming back as his adrenaline went down. He shivered, suddenly aware of being completely wet in sub-zero temperatures, and wrapped his hands around himself. Lalli watched him carefully, still holding him up, and Reynir managed a smile and a thumbs-up.

“It’s all right. I’m fine. I’ll be fine.”

Lalli nodded again and they started to walk back towards the tank, pausing only so that Reynir could pick up the crowbar and Lalli grab the skull of the _kano_ , probably for some spirit-freeing ritual. As they walked on, Reynir looked at the head, tucked in the crook of Lalli’s elbow. With the eye-lights out, and without the malicious grin, it seemed very small and pitiful. Reynir was almost sorry for it.

***

By the time they made their way back to the moving house, the foreign mage was already able to walk by himself, a fact for which Lalli was extremely grateful, more so even when he realized that the entire group was waiting for them by the machine. Red Hair Trollpuncher seemed more amused than anything, while both Gold Hair Sparkles and Tuuri were almost biting their nails. Only the huge Dane seemed unperturbed, simply nodding and grabbing the disinfection water hose when he saw them returning.

Red Hair Trollpuncher and the Dane instantly grabbed the Icelander and started to question him and direct towards the area away from the wet clothes, the Dane bemoaning the ruin of his jacket. Meanwhile, Tuuri ran towards Lalli, while Gold Hair Sparkes wisely stayed back.

“Oh, gods, Lalli, what were you doing? Why did you leave? Why is there… why are you clutching someone’s head?!”

“There was a _kade_.”, Lalli said simply. Tuuri backed away from the skull.

“Oh dear. But why did you drag Reynir with you? You know he's not immune!”

Well, that was just plain _unfair_.

“I didn’t!”

Tuuri rolled her eyes, then glanced at the head again.

“But the _kade_ , what about it?”

“I took it down…” Lalli paused, glancing at the Icelander, who was just getting rid of his shirt. He took a deep breath.

“Well, _we_ took it down.”, he admitted.

He waited until the Icelander looked at him, then gave him the thumb gesture the mage had given him earlier. The Icelander, seeing this, practically beamed with joy, and returned the sign with a wide grin.

Lalli, to his own surprise, felt himself smiling back.

**Author's Note:**

> This is going to be so much fun to read once we learn more about both magic and kades, won't it? (also, why did I write the whole thing convinced the word is "kano"? "Kade" was even in the prompt, dammit!)


End file.
